We should all be ‘stars’ on social media
By Art Toalston
Excerpt from Baptist Press article
Don’t buy the stereotypes. There is a sea of good people on social media — with wholesome things to share.
And you can be one of them.
Through thoughtful use of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and/or Pinterest, you can lift the spirits of your family, friends, neighbors and coworkers as they shelter at home.
You can share edifying thoughts from Scripture, from something your pastor said in online worship, from an uplifting thought that may occur to you from the day’s news, as sorrowful as it often is.
On social media, the fruit of the Spirit stirs us to “do nothing” and “do everything,” drawing from the Apostle Paul’s words as recorded in Philippians chapter 2.
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit,” Paul counsels in verses 3–4.
“Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (CSB).
In verses 14–16, his tandem exhortation is set forth:
“Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, ‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.’ Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.”
We indeed can be stars — not in the number of followers, posts or tweets we accumulate, but in the approval of God for what is seen through our social media.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Art Toalston, a former editor of Baptist Press, was recently recognized by the Association of State Baptist Publications and is the author of “A Pandemic Proposal: Viral Vitality … Hope for the Human Soul,” an ebook available at Amazon, iTunes and other online platforms.
First person: UM grad, nurse shares experience of COVID-19 crisis
By Kei Martin
When news of a novel coronavirus began to circulate, the health care community prepared. As an emergency department and trauma nurse since 2015, I felt ready. The unknown and unexpected is quite literally my job.
Working a pandemic is like nothing I have ever experienced. Work is certainly unprecedented with hazard tents in parking lots, plastic-lined rooms inside and shelter-in-place orders issued by the government.
Taking care of patients is the same, just with heightened precautions and more restrictions. During this COVID-19 outbreak, I regularly use the skills and knowledge I learned in clinical courses at the University of Mobile.
If you ask health care professionals why they chose the field they did, most will tell you that they felt called to it.
For many, health care is a passion. For others, health care is a niche. But for all who are a part of it, it takes a special type of person to dedicate his or her livelihood to serving others during some of their most vulnerable times.
Health care workers get to experience all stages of life with others, from health and happiness to grief, trauma and sadness. My jobs have always trained me to prepare for the worst, because you can’t afford not to with someone’s life on the line.
Through all the shortcomings that are being highlighted on a global scale, I feel confident that this is only going to make us better, not only in the health care realm, but also as a nation, to be better prepared for any events like this that may arise in the future.
Adapt, learn and overcome!
Being a UM grad, the faith-based approach and foundation to my professional calling has kept my spirits up and allowed me to go forth with confidence.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Kei Martin, MSN, RN, APRN, FNP-C, is a two-time graduate of the University of Mobile. She earned a bachelor of science in nursing in 2015 and a master of science in nursing, family nurse practitioner in 2019. She has worked as an emergency department and trauma nurse and currently is a nurse in the emergency department of a California hospital.
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Reasons to Celebrate in the midst of the COVID-19 storm
- Our congregations are being energized, appreciating what they have and miss.
- Our footprint has been enlarged — through technology, more than ever are being touched.
- Stewardship has been encouraging; God’s people are investing in the eternal.
- Ministries are being expanded; churches see the need to be Jesus.
- The hope of spiritual awakening is being embraced; God has the world’s attention for a reason.
Pastor Morgan Bailey
Macedonia Baptist Church, Ranburne
Prayer for the pastors
“Father, bless Your pastors please.
Many have already taped tomorrow’s sermons and have no idea what to do now.
Most are in a constant struggle trying to decide what needs doing, what they actually can do and how to do it.
Your pastors tend to be realists with others but perfectionists with themselves.
Nothing they do these days feels like enough.
They always feel like they’re running behind, doing less than what is needful and forever feeling like a failure.
This makes them vulnerable to the unloving critics and super-spiritual dictators.
Father, help your pastors to know they’re not alone and to reach out and connect with others of Your servants who are dealing with the same self-criticism and feelings of inadequacy as they.
We admit we are not adequate for these things but rejoice that our adequacy is of Thee. Amen.” (That’s 2 Cor. 3:5).
Joe McKeever
Pastor and author
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A strong, ongoing relationship with Jesus is the one, sure anchor for our lives.
Bob Adams
Retired SBC pastor
IMB missionaries are eternally essential workers, and their witness is needed more in the midst of this pandemic than ever before. Our continued work relies on Southern Baptists rallying together now through giving and praying.
Paul Chitwood
IMB president
Churches are the only community-based businesses with the mission to love our neighbors.
Rep. James Gailliard
Pastor and legislator
Rocky Mount, N.C.
Take comfort that Jesus is preexistent. He is the author of time. Take comfort that Jesus is preeminent. He is the anchor of theology. Take comfort that Jesus is preemptive. He is the authority and everything that He does is thoughtful and thorough. Jesus is God and nothing catches Him off balance, off guard, and He is never off line. Jesus, because He is God, is always available, always attentive and always altering sinners into saints. Jesus has a plan for your life so you can put your trust in Him.
Pastor Stuart Davidson
Eastern Shore Baptist Church
Daphne, Ala.
Show your pastor that you support him. Listen to what your pastor says about his life. Ask how his family is. Ask what he does in his free time. Ask what he enjoys about his days off. Show that you want to be his friend, not only his congregant.
Don’t assume he has it all together. Statistics show he’s likely burned out; he’s likely lonely; he’s likely exhausted. Help him catch a break by showing him the love of Christ, who will never turn us away for our emotional difficulties.
Cody Glen Barnhart
Director of music and media
FBC Alcoa (Tenn.)
God has called all believers without exception to engage the Great Commission, making disciples of all nations. But is there a special calling for some to become missionaries in the vocational sense of the word? Absolutely!
God calls men and women to uproot their lives, prepare for service through theological education and launch into cross-cultural environments to learn the language and culture of a specific people and give their lives to reach them with the Gospel of Christ.
John D. Massey
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
God will not take you down a path for which His grace cannot fully sustain you.
Richard Blackaby
Author, Bible teacher and leadership coach
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From the Twitterverse
@revandyfrazier
If you think you don’t have time to encourage someone today, you’re too busy. Take a couple of minutes to say a few kind words.
@MichaelHyatt
People lose their way when they lose their why.
@joeyhanner
If you’re too busy to be faithful then you opened the wrong door. (Rev. 3:20)
@JackieHillPerry
God uses us to keep His church, but He doesn’t need us to keep His church, and that is very good news. It actually frees us from functioning in ministry as if the salvation of some and the perseverance of others ultimately depends on us.
@cnieuwhof
You can lead your way through this crisis or react your way through it. The future belongs to the leaders.
@GKCdaily
Christianity did not conceive of Christian virtues as tame, timid and respectable things. It did conceive of those virtues as vast, defiant and even destructive things, scorning the yoke of this world, dwelling in the desert and seeking their meat from God.
@alan_floyd
We tend to change not when we see the light but when we feel the heat.
@griffingulledge
“Let the excellence of your work be your protest.” — William Lane
@DavidBurtonEv
Good word here: “Hold everything earthly with a loose hand; but grasp eternal things with a death-like grip!” — Charles Spurgeon
@hershaelyork
Those who judge the Word and eliminate texts that they deem inconsistent with Jesus Christ will also eventually eliminate characteristics of Jesus Christ they don’t approve of. Once you become your own arbiter of truth, you really don’t need the Bible — or Jesus — at all.
@jdgreear
Grieving the loss of a spiritual and intellectual giant today. He was one of the first preachers who showed me the power of gospel-rich, Spirit-filled apologetics. May God raise up 10,000 in his place. See you on the other side, Ravi.
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